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China keen on uncracked nuts

The macadamia crop forecast has been revised down to 36,500 tonnes nut in-shell. The Australian Macadamia Society's chief executive officer, Jolyon Burnett, says 5,000 tonnes will be exported to China, where there's a strong demand for unprocessed nuts.

Kim Honan

Australia will export nearly 14 percent of its unprocessed macadamia crop to China this year.

The forecast for the annual crop has been revised down from 39,000 to 36,500 tonnes of nut in-shell.

In addition to the 5,000 tonnes destined for China, 70 percent of the remaining crop will also be exported as kernels.

"The retail market for in-shell nut in China is very strong, and that's allowed Chinese agents and buyers to offer prices to growers, and processors, that are highly competitive," he said.

"So that has attracted a fair chunk of the crop this season."

Mr Burnett says there's already a trade between China and Australian of unprocessed macadamias.

"Some processors choose to get nuts cracked in China due to favourable costs, but that nut traditionally has been re-exported to Australia's normal kernel markets," he said.

"What we've seen happen a little bit last year, and particularly this season, is China buying direct from Australia in-shell that will simply be consumed as in-shell in the Chinese domestic market.

"That's 5,000 tonnes of product that does not go through Australian processors, that the Australian industry does not benefit from the value-adding of, and to some extent undercuts the margins of Australian processors.

"But I certainly hope that as that market develops and matures we will see a growing demand for kernel and other macadamia products in the Chinese market, and that will be a big opportunity for the Australian industry and our value-adders to supply that market."

The revised crop forecast is due to the effects of the wet weather.

"The storms that struck on Australia Day and afterwards did the initial damage, we were hopeful that some of the nut was brought down in those storms could be salvaged," he said.

Mr Burnett says that may have been the case if growers had been able to resume normal harvesting sooner.

"But the prolonged wet weather meant that not only did the nut that was brought down spoil, but because it took most orchardists so long to get on and clear up the damage, the nut that continued to fall afterwards was also lost," he said.

"That's just added up to a reasonably significant dent in the forecast."

That loss will result in a substantial cost to the industry this year, to both growers and processors.

"At current prices, a tonne of in-shell is worth over $3,000, so it's a significant hit that the industry has taken," he said.

With 2,500 less nut in-shell to be cracked, that equates to a loss of more than $7.5 million.